By Eleanor Wilson
Wida Tausif would rather forget her schoolyard memories.
“I was labelled a terrorist, there were days I’d get eggs and tomatoes thrown at me…I would cry walking home. It was full on,” she said.
Now, the Clyde North resident, who was born in Afghanistan, is publishing a children’s book with the hope it will encourage nervous young ones to look forward to school.
Ali Goes to School follows the story of a young boy who is fearful of going to school, Ms Tausif said.
“When he goes to school he actually changes his mind and decides that school is fun and he can make friends and he can have lots of social experiences and it’s not as scary as he thinks,” she said.
“Working as a kindergarten educator, I do see a lot of children getting nervous for school.”
The 30-year-old mother of two admits her life has been “very unstable”.
At 20 days old, her family fled to neighbouring Pakistan, which, Ms Tausif said, “was not a very safe country for Afghani’s at the time”.
“It’s been unpredictable, living in Pakistan, there was a lot of bullying involved”.
Nine years later the family would move to New Zealand, first to a refugee camp in Auckland, before settling in Christchurch.
But, unfortunately, things at school didn’t get any better for Tausif, who had hoped a new country would be a clean slate.
The family moved in September 2001, a time when anti-Muslim sentiment was fervently picking up pace following the September 11 attacks in New York.
“There was a lot of discrimination back them at school and I was labelled as a terrorist. It was quite sad,” she said.
“One of the reasons I decided I wanted to write was because of the emotions I had and the experiences I faced when I was a child from Pakistan and getting bullied in New Zealand.
“And you know that’s something I wanted to do, I needed to speak about it.”
The children’s story is Mrs Tausif’s third book, following Don’t Give Up on Your Dreams and Aliens Don’t Belong on the Earth.
But it’s the first of her novels taken on by an international publisher – Austin Macauley Publishers in London, which will see the book circulate to countris including Australia, Saudi Arabia, the UK and the US.
She describes the experience as a “dream come true”.
“You know getting bullied as a child I didn’t think I’d come this far,” she said.
“It was exciting but I felt really emotional. It was huge news for my family as well.”
A lot of the book’s credit is owed to her family, Tausif said, particularly husband Daniyal who encouraged her to submit the book to publishers.
“As a child I wanted to write books and be a public speaker and get on the stage and take photos, which is not really accepted in my culture.
“It was really huge because you don’t really get that much from the male members of your family as an Afghan woman. It really motivated me to keep going as well.”
In addition to family support, the book is a dedication to her nephew of the same name, who faced his own troubles at school.
“For me to write this book was quite easy, because I could relate to it and I could link my nephew, Ali, to it and my job as well.”
She said she hopes bringing a multicultural character to the book will encourage cultural diversity for future generations.
“I’d love to develop cultural awareness in children as well, because a lot of kids don’t know about cultural diversity, what it is, and unity and respect.
“I just hope it does bring positive change and I just hope they look back to their kinder year and remember the story they read about Ali.”
Ali Goes to School will be published in early 2023 and will be available for purchase on Amazon and at selected book stores.
